The most important school supply? A growth mindset.

Photo above by Laura Rivera via Unsplash.

As the summer is coming to an end, many students begin to fear that six-letter word that pops up at every family function, on every TV commercial or website, and just about everywhere: SCHOOL.

Most local kids will be back in school within just a few weeks. Going into a new school year can be daunting for parents and students alike. But one piece of advice for handling another long school year is this: Have an open mind for any new challenges that come your way by adopting a growth mindset.

The good news is that it’s getting easier for kids to develop a growth mindset. Many schools throughout the Pittsburgh area have been including social-emotional learning (SEL) in the curriculum they offer.

Pittsburgh Public Schools’ website shares that SEL and understanding emotions is a crucial foundation within their schools. The district outlines five major ideas of SEL. The first is self-awareness, which includes implementing a growth mindset by understanding that one can improve at things with effort, practice, and an open mind.

The opposite of a growth mindset is a fixed one. That’s when one believes their skills are predetermined and cannot improve with practice. In school, it is easy for students to fall into a fixed mindset. However, there are plenty of resources where parents can learn to support their kids in building a growth mindset.

I saw the power of a growth mindset in physics class during my junior year. Our assignment: to create a balloon-powered cart that would successfully travel a certain distance down the hallway. On day one, my tablemates and I planned everything out to create the best cart we could.

But as soon as we began building, we had a massive issue: Our wheels were attached too tightly and wouldn’t spin. We were devastated. It was easy to feel defeated but I knew that we had to keep trying.

Our cart wasn’t a failure. It simply did not work yet, and that was alright.

Through trial and error, my friend found a way to get our wheels to spin! We had many more setbacks. Some decorations didn’t resemble our vision, our cart was too heavy, and we had limited time to figure everything out. But throughout the whole experience, we used our growth mindsets to see every setback as an opportunity to get better and improve our design.

In the end, we made very significant changes to our cart and it finally moved down the hallway. If it weren’t for our growth mindset, we might not have completed the project or kept trying every time we failed.

I was so glad we made an effort to try and now it makes for a great story to share with anyone who would like to learn about how to apply a growth mindset.

GOOD BOOKS ABOUT GROWTH MINDSET
“Mindset” by Carol Dweck: Dweck is a famous psychologist who was the first to introduce the ideas of growth and fixed mindsets. Her book goes in-depth about understanding mindsets and how a growth mindset can positively impact any environment.

“Mindsets for Parents” by Mary Cay Ricci and Margaret Lee: This book shares several ways to implement growth mindsets in your and your children’s lives. It is a great read to help people understand and acquire a growth mindset.

YOUTUBE CHANNELS WITH GROWTH MINDSET CONTENT
Class Dojo: an online classroom used by many local school districts that includes accessible video lessons about growth mindset.
Scratch Garden: short and educational videos with growth mindset lessons.
After Skool: engaging and artistic videos that share ideas about growth mindsets and other helpful skills.
TEDx Talks: videos used to inform and inspire people. There are a variety of talks about growth mindsets, goals, and other SEL topics.

While all of the resources above are great ways to learn about growth mindsets, the best way to help your child for the new school year is to do your best too. Discovering a growth mindset is step one, but things don’t start to change until you take action.

So the next time you have a hard day at work or something doesn’t go as planned, remind yourself that tomorrow can be better. Point that out to your kids. You might not be able to do something yet, but that doesn’t mean you can’t ever learn to do it.

By trying your best to implement a growth mindset in your own life, your child will become familiar with what a healthy growth mindset looks like and even adopt their own. With consistency, support, and effort, the new school year – and even life further ahead – can be full of great experiences and moments of success. And school won’t have to be scary at all.

Want more info about growth mindset for younger kids? Check out this story and this maker project.